How did Adam & Eve live so long?

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freedomforall
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How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

Anybody wondered how it is that people before the flood were allowed to live so long? I just read this and it struck me. Adam, Eve and all those in their time frame were able to live many, many years and some up to in excess of 900 years...because...they were on God's time and not time as we know it.

The last sentence in verse 5:13 provided me with this conclusion.

Abraham 3:4
And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolutions thereof; that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord’s time, according to the reckoning of Kolob.

Abraham 5:13
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time (day?) that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.

Summery
1 One day to God is 1000 yrs to us.
2 Adam was told he would die in the day thereof; he died at the age of 950, 50 yrs shy of one of God's full "days".
3 Those who were here before the flood had not been given their reckoning of time as we know it to be now.

Anyone have other understanding of this?

buffalo_girl
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by buffalo_girl »

Summery
1 One day to God is 1000 yrs to us.
2 Adam was told he would die in the day thereof; he died at the age of 950, 50 yrs shy of one of God's full "days".
3 Those who were here before the flood had not been given their reckoning of time as we know it to be now.

Anyone have other understanding of this?

I like your 'reckoning'. Sounds like a very real possibility!

Adam & Eve also had nearly perfect bodies to start with in mortality. Their environment was pristine and they weren't the products of generations of variables in the genetic makeup of their forebears.

freedomforall
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

buffalo_girl wrote:
Summery
1 One day to God is 1000 yrs to us.
2 Adam was told he would die in the day thereof; he died at the age of 950, 50 yrs shy of one of God's full "days".
3 Those who were here before the flood had not been given their reckoning of time as we know it to be now.

Anyone have other understanding of this?

I like your 'reckoning'. Sounds like a very real possibility!

Adam & Eve also had nearly perfect bodies to start with in mortality. Their environment was pristine and they weren't the products of generations of variables in the genetic makeup of their forebears.
Yep! All that factors in for sure. They didn't have Micky D's down the block, and Upchuck Haven across town, and Scarf & Barf in the next town. Nor did they have Roadkill Grill deep-frying food in 90 day old lard emitting a stench that would make one's ears flap.

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InfoWarrior82
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by InfoWarrior82 »

James E. Talmadge explains in Jesus the Christ that it was the sin of not keeping the word of wisdom that caused their bodies to degrade and eventually die. Something to do with the forbidden fruit in which they partook.

natasha
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by natasha »

I had a Gospel Doctrine teacher many years ago that gave HIS OPINION on this subject. He said that before the flood, man did not eat meat. Have no idea what his references were...I just remember the statement.

buffalo_girl
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by buffalo_girl »

What did they do with all those sheep & goats?

loquaciousmomma
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by loquaciousmomma »

I have heard it theorized that the earth hadn't been worn out from years of use, and so there was everything needed to prolong life in the foods and water available. The air and water were clean, etc.

Also, some connection to the flood and changes in the earth at that time have been theorized.

I do like the reckoning of time theory, though.

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by sbsion »

they were fore-ordained to such

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by sbsion »

buffalo_girl wrote:What did they do with all those sheep & goats?

if you are talking about procreation.......well, thing the Lord doesn't know when to send life, even if it's animal?

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

buffalo_girl wrote:What did they do with all those sheep & goats?
They were used for the local fair. They were tethered to a post and the kids got to ride them bear back. :)) :))

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

loquaciousmomma wrote:I do like the reckoning of time theory, though.
How is this scripture to be interpreted? I thought long and hard and reasoned that during the time of Adam and all those people before the flood were looking at time as God does.

What other way could it mean when God says "in the day that thou eatest thereof, though shalt surely die?" If they saw time as we do now, they would have died within twenty-four hours after exiting the Garden of Eden, right?

Abraham 5:13
...Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.

Just wondering.

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

JulesGP wrote:When did Methuselah live? He lived for 969 years....
To the best of my understanding, he died the year of the flood. So he would have known Adam and Eve. Methuselah was the Grandfather of Noah, and the Son of Enoch.

Please correct me if I'm in error on this anyone.

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iamse7en
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by iamse7en »

Adam actually lived to 999. John Pratt has a good summary:
Two different religions provide support for that very idea. First, there is the following Hebrew tradition: "[Adam's] appointed span was to be a thousand years, one of the Lord's days."[23] It was felt that the longest time he could live would be 1,000 years, because God had warned him that "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The tradition goes on to say the he gave seventy years of his life to someone else, so that he lived 930 years. This teaching could be based of the belief that he did indeed live nearly 1,000 years.

A modern confirmation comes from statements attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Charles Walker recorded in his diary that he heard Wilford Woodruff state:

Our Father [Adam] held [the Priesthood], and he was the oldest man that ever lived, according to the Prophet Joseph's sayings. He lived until he was 1,000 years old within a few months.[24]

Edward's Stevenson's journal is a second witness, which states that he learned personally from Joseph Smith that
Father Adam began his work and finished what was to be done in his time, living to be one thousand years old with the exception of about six months. Truly the Bible gives Methuselah the credit of being the oldest but the Prophet Joseph had it revealed to him otherwise. It is only an error of man in translating the record.[25]

Further evidence that the Prophet believed that Adam lived nearly 1,000 years, and believed also that the Biblical record was mistranslated is that in the earlier versions of his inspired translation of the Bible, he corrected the Genesis account to state that Adam lived 1,000 years.[26] That makes three witnesses of the Prophet's belief concerning the length of Adam's life.

But then, surprisingly, in the final revision of his new translation, he changed it back to 930 years, as it now stands. Why? Perhaps the Prophet realized that even though Adam lived nearly 1,000 years, the Biblical chronology is reckoned from the beginning of Adam's mortality. If so, then it was not a mistake in Genesis, it was just that he had misunderstood at first how time was measured.
How? No vaccines. ;)

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by freedomforall »

freedomfighter wrote:Abraham 5:13
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time (day?) that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
Question: Who are "the Gods" referred to in the above scripture?

natasha
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by natasha »

buffalo_girl wrote:What did they do with all those sheep & goats?
I understand your question, BG....one I had myself. As I said, I don't recall the references he gave or if he did give any regarding his assumption. However, if you want to find some interesting things to read, just google "Did man eat meat before the flood?" Some interesting hits.

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by durangout »

freedomfighter wrote:
freedomfighter wrote:Abraham 5:13
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time (day?) that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
Question: Who are "the Gods" referred to in the above scripture?
Eloheim (that is plural in Heb).

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mes5464
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by mes5464 »

durangout wrote:
freedomfighter wrote:
freedomfighter wrote:Abraham 5:13
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time (day?) that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
Question: Who are "the Gods" referred to in the above scripture?
Eloheim (that is plural in Heb).
"The Gods" refers to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, since Father got directly involved when the spirit of Michael was placed into Adam.

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mes5464
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by mes5464 »

natasha wrote:
buffalo_girl wrote:What did they do with all those sheep & goats?
I understand your question, BG....one I had myself. As I said, I don't recall the references he gave or if he did give any regarding his assumption. However, if you want to find some interesting things to read, just google "Did man eat meat before the flood?" Some interesting hits.
I believe this idea comes from two verses. The first is Gen 1:29 where only herbs, fruits and grains are listed:
29 ¶And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/1.29?lang=eng#28" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then in Gen 9:2-4 after the flood they are given commandment to eat meat and the animals are made to be afraid of man:
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/9.2-3?lang=eng#2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thus the belief is that neither man nor animal consumed meat before the commandment was given to Noah (i.e. before the flood) and that only after the flood did predators act like such and only then did man start hunting.

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mes5464
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by mes5464 »

My take on the reckoning of time, is that the Earth received its reckoning after the fall. The fell from God's reckoning to what we have now. And, yes Adam lived 1000 years, which equals 1 of Father's days, so he did in fact "in that day".

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mes5464
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by mes5464 »

With respect to the question of why/how did man live so long, I subscribe to the theory that a bubble of water around the Earth shielded man from radiation, thus allowing them to live much longer.

Moses 2:6-8
6 And again, I, God, said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and it was so, even as I spake; and I said: Let it divide the waters from the waters; and it was done;

7 And I, God, made the firmament and divided the waters, yea, the great waters under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so even as I spake.

8 And I, God, called the firmament Heaven; and the evening and the morning were the second day.
http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/2.6-8?lang=eng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, based on this description, I envision an envelop or bubble of water above the firmament/heavens that acted as a shield against radiation from space. That water accounted for the 40 days rain that flooded the Earth and raised the total water on the face of the Earth from some percent to 70%.

The above represents my opinion.

And to get even crazier! I additionally believe that the bubble also resulted in a hotter planet, possible without a winter, plus they also lived very long lives just like man did, so that allowed reptiles to grow very large and they are what science calls dinosaurs. So! When Noah saved two of every kind, he actually did just that. The reptiles just don't ever grow as large as they once did. By the way, this is also MY OPINION and nothing more.

Silas
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by Silas »

Maybe the thing we should really be asking is why are our bodies so weak and prone to sickness that we only live a mere 70-100 years?

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by Aaronjs0005 »

mes5464 wrote: March 23rd, 2011, 10:58 pm With respect to the question of why/how did man live so long, I subscribe to the theory that a bubble of water around the Earth shielded man from radiation, thus allowing them to live much longer.

Moses 2:6-8
6 And again, I, God, said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and it was so, even as I spake; and I said: Let it divide the waters from the waters; and it was done;

7 And I, God, made the firmament and divided the waters, yea, the great waters under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so even as I spake.

8 And I, God, called the firmament Heaven; and the evening and the morning were the second day.
http://lds.org/scriptures/pgp/moses/2.6-8?lang=eng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, based on this description, I envision an envelop or bubble of water above the firmament/heavens that acted as a shield against radiation from space. That water accounted for the 40 days rain that flooded the Earth and raised the total water on the face of the Earth from some percent to 70%.

The above represents my opinion.

And to get even crazier! I additionally believe that the bubble also resulted in a hotter planet, possible without a winter, plus they also lived very long lives just like man did, so that allowed reptiles to grow very large and they are what science calls dinosaurs. So! When Noah saved two of every kind, he actually did just that. The reptiles just don't ever grow as large as they once did. By the way, this is also MY OPINION and nothing more.
I'm curious, what about rainbows? Did those not happen until after the flood and does your theory (a very good one) support or not support the idea of rainbows only after the flood? A rainbow happens when the Sun shines light through misty water and rain. I'm thinking perhaps you have to be a a certain angle and whether that bubble would validate this or not.

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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by Michelle »

mes5464 wrote: March 23rd, 2011, 10:35 pm
natasha wrote:
buffalo_girl wrote:What did
I believe this idea comes from two verses. The first is Gen 1:29 where only herbs, fruits and grains are listed:
29 ¶And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/1.29?lang=eng#28" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Then in Gen 9:2-4 after the flood they are given commandment to eat meat and the animals are made to be afraid of man:
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
http://lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/9.2-3?lang=eng#2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thus the belief is that neither man nor animal consumed meat before the commandment was given to Noah (i.e. before the flood) and that only after the flood did predators act like such and only then did man start hunting.
I have also believed righteous men did not eat meat before the flood because of these two verses. However, I believe wicked men did and this may be part of the violence that filled the earth before the flood.

I also believe we are to eat meat now only in time of winter, cold, and famine. I believe many supplements are harmful so I choose meat in winter over B12 shots or pills, and abstain for the most part in warmer seasons.

I have no idea if that contributed to his long life.

He was created in the image of God wasn't he? I tend to think of modern humans in terms of domesticated animals: smaller, weaker, more vulnerable than Adam and Eve.

Michelle
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by Michelle »

mes5464 wrote: March 23rd, 2011, 10:09 pm
durangout wrote:
freedomfighter wrote:
freedomfighter wrote:Abraham 5:13
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time (day?) that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning.
Question: Who are "the Gods" referred to in the above scripture?
Eloheim (that is plural in Heb).
"The Gods" refers to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, since Father got directly involved when the spirit of Michael was placed into Adam.
It may mean Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, or it may mean Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. They are both Gods right? So perhaps the plural is because we have two godly parents who decide together.

Michelle
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Re: How did Adam & Eve live so long?

Post by Michelle »

If you are really curious and have the Spirit as directed in Doctrine and Covenants 91, I might suggest the apocryphal Books of Adam including The Combat if Adam and Eve with Satan.

But then I'd also recommend you read Nibley's 13 part series "A Strange Thing in the Land the Return of the Book of Enoch" from the Ensign for history and correlation first.

And then I can't help but suggest reading The Book of Enoch as well. 😉

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